The Brazilian delegation was led by Colonel-General Carlos Augusto Leal Veloso, the director of the foreign relations department within the Brazilian defense ministry, who was invited to inspect the Baikonur site, located in Kazakhstan, by the Russian space agency Roskosmos, the agency said.

"Our two countries intend to develop cooperation in the space area to design a Brazilian booster rocket and create the infrastructure for a launch center," the agency quoted Carlos Veloso as saying in an English-language dispatch. The report did not say which language he spoke in.

"We have arrived at Baikonur to study better the Russian cosmodrome and the experience of the operation of the space infrastrure."

A bilateral agreement spelling out principles for Russia-Brazilian space cooperation was among a series of documents signed in Brasilia last November during a visit to Brazil by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The report quoted Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian space agency, as saying he foresaw "excellent prospects" for the two countries to work together in designing and building a booster rocket that would be competetive in the commercial space launch market.

Because of its geographical location near the equator, Brazil is particularly well-suited to launching space vehicles and placing satellites in earth orbit at lower cost than at other launch sites further removed from the equator.

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